How to Die Without a Lawyer: A Practical Guide to Creating an Estate Plan Without Paying Legal Fees

A step-by-step approach to creating, revoking, or changing a will offers advice on avoiding legal disputes, leaving property to minors, naming a guardian for minors, and avoiding probate

Death and taxes may be absolutes in life, but there's no excuse for improperly preparing your estate for your death and posthumously pummeling your heirs with your taxes. Even worse, contends Mary Clement, an attorney who specializes in end-of-life issues, is paying too much for associated legal help--either while you're alive or after you're gone. In How to Die Without a Lawyer, she accordingly "reveals the secrets of trusts and estate law, enabling you, the reader, to produce the same work as the professionals, without the legal fees and with the added benefit of your estate being more financially advantageous to your beneficiaries than to your lawyer." Chapters deal with everything involved in creating, revoking, or changing wills (how to inventory your property, forgive a debt, designate a fiduciary), taking precautions against mental incapacity (living wills, health-care proxies, do-not-resuscitate orders), and avoiding probate (pay-on-death designations, gifts for education or medical expenses, living trusts). Appendices offer sample documents, including wills and clauses for them that fit different circumstances. Primarily designed for those planning estate preparation on their own, the book also should prove useful to anyone who will seek legal assistance but would like to become as informed as possible in advance of the process. --Howard Rothman